Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes

Dad Bod – The new trend on the beach this summer?

Love to stare at sculpted bodies on the beach? Then girls of the world, I am sorry, but you will be deceived with the new trend: the dad bod. Away from the washboard abs, the new look is a small beer gut. Crazy isn’t it? But true.

MacKenzie Pearson, an American student of 19, first came up with this theory in a blog post published on The Odyssey. To explain her term, she wrote, “The dad bod is a nice balance between a beer gut and working out. The dad bod says, ‘I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time.’ It’s not an overweight guy, but it isn’t with washboard abs, either.”

Weird right? And apparently there is more than one reason for this new attraction: firstly it is said that it intimidates girls less than a perfectly sculpted body. MacKenzie Pearson continues by explaining that it is the promise of a good meal, a person who isn’t afraid of a cheat meal, as well as a partner excelling at cuddling.

Still confused? Here is what a journalist at the Washington Post wrote, “Number of women look for men with a great career and who love children. Gym obsessed guys are too busy at the gym to have their own firm or to keep the house clean. Basically, it is not the dad bod’s appearance which is attractive, it is what it represents.”

New criteria of beauty or quick trend? Either way it won’t be gone by this summer, so guys, you know what you have to do.

However, this tendency did not just receive good critics by the public, it was also qualified as misogynist. Not going as far as that, it still shows the gap between the pressure of the society on men and women. Brian Moylan from the Time said, “While women have to go to the gym and count each one of their calories, men can let themselves go, eat all the crisps and guacamole that they want and still expect their partner to have a perfect body”

But the proper response to this trend came from social medias (as always) where thousands of women posted pictures of their stomach, sometimes after their pregnancy. Even the original author of the Dad Bod, Mackenzie Pearson wrote another article as a tribute to her mom’s body – the “mom bod”.

“My mother’s life has shaped her body. My mother is one of the most beautiful women I know, and some day I hope I will be able to bear my own stripes. (…)A woman’s body is a piece of artwork; it tells the world a story. A woman’s body is a canvas, painted and shaded by the colours of her life. The richest stories leave their marks.”